Thursday, February 23, 2012

Hoops and Roy In No Hurry

It comes down to the final four games for U.C., and the final three games for Xavier. Both teams can control their own destiny. Both teams can also thank other bubble teams fading down the stretch and leaving the door wide open. But the Bearcats can blow the door down with wins over Louisville and Marquette at home. I don't care what the out of conference schedule is ranked at that point. Xavier might need to win two of the last three and a decent showing in the A-10 tournament to make it. But again, with the way the bubble has gone the past two weeks, backing-in is an option for Xavier. Because of the out of conference schedule, backing-in isn't a very good option for U.C.

There is one thing I'm failing to understand here. The idea of a basketball team is to get better as the season goes along. Sure, U.C. should never have played all of those lesser programs. But a loss to Presbyterian three months ago should not have as large of an influence as it seems to have on a lot of these bracketologists.
If it happened last week, then yeah, that is a much bigger deal.

So Roy Oswalt may pull a "Clemens" and sign with a team during the season. Not a bad way to go for Oswalt. Pitching issues pop up with contenders year in and year out, so I can't blame Oswalt for taking his time and playing the field.

It sounds like the Steelers will make keeping Mike Wallace a priority. I figured that would be the case. When the Steelers deem someone necessary, they usually figure out a way to get it done. This also means they don't have someone waiting in the wings to take the place of Wallace. The Steelers have also shown the courage to not overpay and let guys leave if they have someone else ready to take the position. In other words, the Steelers do things right.